Outline Concept
“The European Central Bank is the main hub of an extending European and international financial network. Therefore, the ECB building is not conceived as a solitary object, but as an open and non-hierarchic network. It allows a free and clear flow of people, data and material; it enables new and constantly changing connections, confrontations and associations.

The form of the building results from this concept. It is an assemblage of functional entities in one organism, whose appearance is determined by the processes taking place inside. Therefore the building is a bold and clear expression of the networks within and without, standing in relation to the daring and strictly functional architecture of the Grossmarkthalle and to the surrounding (post-) industrial area. At the same time, the site’s landscape is an open and transparent surface that regulates accessibility as well as safety.

The ECB’s logistic flow of people, cars and trucks is seen as an industrial installation. The landscape is designed as a single coherent surface that organizes efficiently both connection and disconnection.

The Grossmarkthalle keeps its original function as a large distribution space and has been changed as little as possible. The hall is the public square of the building: a civic hall where staff and visitors meet. Three bridges lead to a series of foyers which constitutes one of the collecting points of the network building.

The different parts of the „working“ programme are forged together into one articulate composite volume. By this means, programme parts cannot become isolated, but always constitute elements of a larger network within the building.”